24 October 2019

UK

Ban ‘useless’ cigarette filters to curb plastic waste, say researchers

International

US: Trial banning sale of flavoured products to under 21s reduced number of flavoured products on shelves by 70% and cut teen users by 6%

US: Study suggests most teenage and adult tobacco users started with a flavoured product

Australia: Tobacco illnesses more likely for disadvantaged

South Korea's top convenience store chain drops some e-liquid flavours

Statistics

Statistics on NHS Stop Smoking Services in England April 2019 to June 2019

UK

Ban ‘useless’ cigarette filters to curb plastic waste, say researchers
 

Philip Morris said that their filter would “take the fear out of smoking”. Kent boasted that theirs “gives greater protection than any other cigarette”. Sixty-five years on, filters are still going strong — and they remain, in the words of one scientist, “the deadliest fraud in the history of civilisation”.

They don’t work, are the greatest single item of litter found in the world and now it is beyond time that they are banned, according to a team of researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “Even though the cellulose acetate filter is the single most commonly collected item of litter globally, the industry has largely succeeded in avoiding the public outrage expressed towards plastic waste,” write the team of researchers in the BMJ. “Unlike manufacturers of some other polluting post-consumption waste products… [the tobacco industry] has never been held accountable for the cost of the waste it generates.”

Researchers argue that there is ample evidence filters do not make cigarettes healthier. Filters cause smokers to inhale deeper and they do not remove harmful toxins. The yellow discolouration was an innovation deliberately created to reassure smokers that the filter was working, and comes from a change in pH levels rather than an accumulation of tar.

The problem, the authors of the BMJ editorial argue, is that filters are not just a pointless marketing gimmick, they are actively harmful. Cellulose acetate is a type of plastic that does not easily biodegrade. Every year 4.5 trillion butts find their way into the ecosystem. The public health researchers argue that it is a strange situation that “one of the leading sources of plastic waste worldwide is hiding in plain sight: the cigarette butt”.

Source: The Times, 24 October 2019

See also:
BMJ Editorial: No more butts

Read Article

International

US: Trial banning sale of flavoured products to under 21s reduced number of flavoured products on shelves by 70% and cut teen users by 6%
 

A new study has found that the ban on the sale of flavoured tobacco products to under 21s in the Massachusetts town of Lowell, reduced their availability and cut down teen use. The ban, which includes e-cigarettes, came into force in October 2016 and also restricts availability of flavoured products to establishments such as such as vape shops, tobacconists, and smoking bars.

The researchers found that, within six months of the policy being implemented, the number of flavoured products on shelves was reduced by 70% and teen users fell by 6%. Additionally, the number of teens who currently used (past 30 days) flavoured tobacco products dropped by 5.7% and use of non-flavoured tobacco reduced by 6.2%.  

Source: Daily Mail, 24 October 2019

See also:
American Journal of Preventative Medicine: Short-Term Impact of a Flavoured Tobacco Restriction: Changes in Youth Tobacco Use in a Massachusetts Community

Read Article

US: Study suggests most teenage and adult tobacco users started with a flavoured product
 

Flavoured tobacco products are more likely to get teenagers and young adults started on smoking or vaping than non-flavoured products, according to a new study.

Researchers found that the first use of a menthol or mint flavoured cigarette placed teens and young adults at high risk of subsequent cigarette smoking. First time smoking of menthol cigarettes was associated with an eventual progression to daily cigarette use.  

For the study, published in JAMA Network Open, the team analysed data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study. Data was collected on nearly 12,000 teenagers and about 26,500 adults during an initial study period (2013 to 2014) and a follow-up (2014 to 2015). In the first period, participants were asked if they had first tried flavoured products including cigarettes, e-cigarettes, traditional cigars, hookah tobacco, pipe tobacco, smokeless tobacco and dissolvable tobacco. Then, in the follow-up, they asked if they were current users and how frequently they were using the products.

Source: Mail on Sunday, 23 October 2019

See also:
JAMA Network Open: Association of Flavoured Tobacco Use With Tobacco Initiation and Subsequent Use Among US Youth and Adults, 2013-2015

Read Article

Australia: Tobacco illnesses more likely for disadvantaged
 

Australia's most disadvantaged people are more than twice as likely to develop diseases from smoking as the most wealthy. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare presented the finding in a new report laying bare the impact of tobacco on the nation's health. Smoking contributed to 21,000 deaths in Australia in 2015, the latest year for which data is available.

That was more than one in eight deaths across the Country, making smoking the leading risk factor for ill health and early death. Ultimately, smoking was responsible for 9.3% of Australia's total burden of disease. Almost half (43%) of smoking related diseases were cancers, most of which were lung cancer. Coronary heart disease accounted for almost a third of the smoking impact (30%), followed by coronary heart disease (10%) and stroke (3.1%).

The report found that people living in the lowest socio-economic areas - or facing the most disadvantage - had a tobacco disease burden 2.6 times higher than those living in the highest socio-economic areas.

Source: This is Money, 23 October 2019

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South Korea's top convenience store chain drops some e-liquid flavours
 

South Korea’s top convenience store chain GS25 has stopped selling some e-liquid flavours, the parent company GS Retail said on Thursday (24th October).
The sales suspension came a day after the country’s health minister warned the public to stop using vaping products, citing a number of deaths attributed to e-cigarettes in the United States.

GS25 halted sales of three e-liquid flavours manufactured by US e-cigarette maker Juul Labs, as well as one local product. The convenience store is considering whether to expand its sales suspension to all vaping products.

Source: Reuters, 24 October 2019

Read Article

Statistics

Statistics on NHS Stop Smoking Services in England April 2019 to June 2019


The NHS has published Statistics on NHS Stop Smoking Services in England for April - June 2019 (Q1). It includes information on the number of people setting a quit date and the number who successfully quit at the 4 week follow-up. It shows that:

- Over 50% of people successfully quit (self-reported): Of 53,202 people setting a quit date, 26,795 were successful, with 69% being CO verified

- Quitting success (self-reported) increased with age: 39% of those aged under 18 were successful, up to 55% of those aged 60 and over

- 43% of the pregnant women who set a quit date successfully quit: Of 3,324 pregnant women setting a quit date, 1,431 were successful, with 60% being CO verified

Source: NHS Digital, 24 October 2019

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